Robin Soderling suffered a collapse in form in the deciding set of the SkiStar Swedish Open final to hand victory to Nicolas Almagro.

Defending champion and top seed Soderling was beaten 7-5 3-6 6-2 by the Spaniard, ranked 20 in the world, at the clay court event.

It was Almagro’s sixth ATP World tour title – all secured on clay – and his first since beating Gael Monfils at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel last year.

The 24-year-old from Murcia saved two break points in only the second game but by the 12th he had broken Soderling to snatch the opening set.

Soderling, the French Open finalist who is ranked fifth in the world, came on strong in the second set to level the match.

But with the decider poised at 2-2, Almagro won four successive games to canter home in under two hours.

“It’s a great feeling to win here. It’s always amazing to win a final and I’m very happy with the week,” said Almagro.

“I’m going to enjoy this moment and then prepare for next week in Hamburg.

“I didn’t play very well in the 2007 final here, but today I fought very hard and I’m really happy with the physical and mental sides to my game.

“It was a big match, a big fight and we were both battling like gladiators.

“Robin is a great player and I’m sure he will have many more chances to win this tournament in the future.”